


To Cast Oneself: Suicide in The Silmarillion

by starlightwalking



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Catholicism, Essay, Gen, Literary Analysis, Meta, Suicide, Written for a Class, discussion of canon incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 12:26:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19198774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightwalking/pseuds/starlightwalking
Summary: Though Maedhros and Túrin never interact within the published Silmarillion, their stories mirror each other in significant ways up to and including their respective deaths by their own hands. In connecting these two suicides of fallen, once-noble heroes, Tolkien shows the destructive nature of both the internal and external forces that lead to such drastic actions and provides a glimmer of hope for the perhaps-not-so-damned souls of Túrin and Maedhros and their spiritually tormented kin.





	To Cast Oneself: Suicide in The Silmarillion

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! I wrote this for my English 202 class, where my prof said we could write about "literally anything" as long as it was literary analysis...so naturally I was like, "An excuse to talk about the Silm? Don't mind if I do!"
> 
> I talked a bit about the parallels between Mae and Turin on tumblr when I was outlining this essay, so if you saw that you'll probably recognize some points I made there in this essay.
> 
> This is not written in the style of [my other meta [about LaCE]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18423828), it's a straight-up literary analysis written academically. It's also written for a prof who isn't familiar with the Silm, so there will be some plot summary, though I tried to keep that to a minimum.
> 
> Lastly: I am not Catholic, and all my knowledge about Tolkien's Catholicism comes from the sources listed below and general fandom osmosis. I apologize for any inaccuracies; I tried my best.

          J.R.R. Tolkien's epic and masterpiece,  _The Silmarillion_ , tells the tale of the First Age of his fictional world, Arda. Fraught with peril, evil, and suffering, the characters within  _The Silmarillion_  each endure truly horrific experiences with few exceptions. Despite such hardships, few characters are driven to commit suicide, and those who do are notable anti-heroes within the larger story of the First Age. Two such characters are Maedhros, eldest son of the elf who created the titular Silmarils (three jewels of great magical power), and Túrin Turambar, a tragic mortal hero whose tale is full of death, fear, and unwitting incest. Though Maedhros and Túrin never interact within the published  _Silmarillion_ , their stories mirror each other in significant ways up to and including their respective deaths by their own hands. In connecting these two suicides of fallen, once-noble heroes, Tolkien shows the destructive nature of both the internal and external forces that lead to such drastic actions and provides a glimmer of hope for the perhaps-not-so-damned souls of Túrin and Maedhros and their spiritually tormented kin.

          Maedhros's life is rife with political intrigue, kinslaying, and trauma. He is one of the few characters to endure all five hundred years of the First Age, dying at its very end. His demise comes after reclaiming one of the stolen Silmarils for which he shed so much blood, only for the jewel to reject him. Overcome at last by his horrific past, Maedhros casts himself into "a gaping chasm filled with fire, and so ended; and the Silmaril that he bore was taken into the bosom of the Earth" ( _The Silmarillion_ , "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"). Túrin Turambar, son of the captive mortal hero Húrin, wreaked a path of destruction across Middle-earth. His life was short but incredibly destructive, and no matter his intent he left death in his wake. When he at last finds peace in a quiet forest with a wife and child on the way, the dragon who hunted his family reappeared and revealed that Túrin's wife Niënor was in fact the sister he had never before met. While Túrin slew the dragon, horror and shame overcame both of the Children of Húrin and they independently committed suicide, Niënor by leaping into a river and Túrin by his own cursed sword.

          Both Túrin and Maedhros suffer great personal losses throughout their stories, each of which sets the stage for the final blow at the end of their journey. Maedhros lost his father, each of his six brothers, and his dearest friend in addition to the failure he faced attempting to recapture the Silmarils; Túrin was directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of his parents, his sister, his dearest friends, and the destruction of one of the great elven kingdoms. Both were the eldest sibling, carrying the responsibility of taking care of the younger children especially in the absence of parental figures: Maedhros lost each of his brothers in battles he led against his own kin in pursuit of a hopeless goal, and Túrin married his sister which unwittingly led to her own demise. Maedhros was tortured, maimed, stripped of his crown, and denied his father's jewels; Túrin was exiled, betrayed, cursed, and robbed of his family's honor. When attempting to unite the forces of Middle-earth against their great common enemy, Morgoth, Maedhros failed to gain the support of some of the most crucial potential allies, leading to a battle so bloody it became known as "the Battle of Unnumbered Tears." It is in this battle, which occurred when Túrin was a child, that his father Húrin was captured and the misfortunes of his family began—partially due to Maedhros's failure. Túrin in his turn led another destructive attempt to combat Morgoth, echoing Maedhros in his vain attempt to build bridges (literally and figuratively) between the disparate enemies of evil.

          Unlike Tolkien's more famous works that focus on more cohesive tales and the deeds of humble people like hobbits,  _The Silmarillion_  is a sprawling epic on the scale of ancient myths. As such, "doom" when used in this context has a deeper meaning than simply one's demise, and both Túrin and Maedhros are caught up in the Doom of their families. Maedhros is bound to the Oath of Fëanor, the vow he, his father Fëanor, and his brothers swore to recover the Silmarils or face eternal damnation, and this Oath drives him and his family to do terrible things. Unlike mortals, elves do not kill one another—except in the case of the Fëanorians, who lead three dread Kinslayings against their own kind in pursuit of the Silmarils. It is because of these horrific murders that Fëanor's people fall under the "Doom of the Noldor," which bans them from ever returning to the blessed land in the West were gods and High Elves dwell. Túrin's doom is laid down by the evil god Morgoth upon his father Húrin, cursing his entire family. Morgoth's doom leads to the destruction of everything Túrin cares for, extending from his own suicide to the deaths of his dearest companions. His curse is reminiscent of the Doom of Oedipus in Greek myth, both in the futility of struggling against it and in the aspect of incest. It is Túrin's attempt to circumvent his Doom by concealing his true identity that leads to his marriage to Niënor, and it was the attempts of Oedipus' parents to raise him without knowledge of his family that allows for him to wed his own mother.

          The Hero's Journey requires sacrifice and suffering for ultimate success, but Túrin and Maedhros are not classic heroes of ancient myth; in fact, few characters in this story reach the paradigm of heroism that is the completion of the Journey. In _The Silmarillion_ , triumph and tragedy go hand in hand. The War of Wrath is fought at the very end of the First Age when all the great elven kingdoms have fallen and the land is "ruined" and overrun by servants of Morgoth. Most of the powerful elf lords are dead, and almost all the noble Men of the West are scattered and slain. When the gods return to Middle-earth and finally destroy Morgoth's armies and force him into subjugation, it is at the expense of an entire continent. In many ways,  _The Silmarillion_  sets the stage for  _The Hobbit_  and  _The Lord of the Rings_  not only in the extensive lore Tolkien devises, but also in its setting of a post-apocalyptic world full of faded glory. Thousands of years later, when Sam and Frodo climb the stairs of Cirith Ungol, they recognize this and Sam says in reference to the events of  _The Silmarillion_ , "But that's a long tale, of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it" ( _The Two Towers_ , "The Stairs of Cirith Ungol"). Even the main villain in  _The Lord of the Rings_ , the titular Lord Sauron himself, is only a servant of Morgoth who escaped the War of Wrath. Though the forces of good win out in the end, the price paid for such a victory is immense.

           This is seen also in the smaller scale examples of Túrin Turambar and Maedhros the Tall. Both figures committed suicide directly after achieving their greatest triumph, because they had been utterly abandoned by the last person they loved and learned horrible truths about the people they trusted most. Maedhros regained a Silmaril, only to separate from his last living brother Maglor and come to the awful realization that "his right hitherto [the Silmaril] had become void, and that the oath was in vain" ( _The Silmarillion_ , "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath). The Oath he and his brothers had sworn before the Valar to regain the jewels or face "everlasting darkness," and that goal was not forfeit: Fëanor had led them astray. Túrin slayed his greatest enemy, the dragon Glaurugn, only to learn that his wife Níniel had cast herself "into the wild water" ( _The Silmarillion_ , "Of Túrin Turambar") and furthermore, that she was in truth his sister Niënor and that their unborn child, now drowned along with its mother, was a product of incest. Their victories are in vain, and they are vanquished even as they succeed.

          Death in Tolkien's Legendarium is different for elves and mortals. When an elf dies, their spirit is taken to an afterlife where they are punished or healed for their deeds and given a second chance at life. They are offered a choice to be re-embodied and live again, but their spirits are conscious the entire time. Thus, even in death Maedhros cannot escape his "anguish and despair," especially as (depending on one's interpretation of the text) the Oath binds him to endure "everlasting darkness" alongside Morgoth himself. The spirits of mortals, on the other hand, are subject to what is called "the Gift of Men": a fate beyond the realm of Arda known only to the chieftest of the gods. Túrin, however, proves an exception to the rule, for he is prophesied (again, according to one's interpretation of Tolkien's ever-shifting view of his Legendarium) to be revived for the Armageddon event known as Dagor Dagorath ("Battle of Battles") where he will face off against Morgoth and take revenge for the Children of Húrin and all of Arda. His spirit, also, is not to find rest in death, at least not until after that battle in the far-flung future. Still, there is a sliver of hope for each: after Arda is broken and then remade, each Curse and Doom shall be lifted and both Maedhros and Túrin will be freed...depending on how Tolkien's vast and often incompatible narratives reconcile with each other into one consistent canon within the reader's mind.

          The suicides of Maedhros and the Children of Húrin parallel each other in the element into which each casts themself. Maedhros falls into a "chasm of fire," where Túrin's sword kills him at the riverside where Niënor found her end. Fire and water claim them even as fire and water claim the two Silmarils Maedhros and his last living brother recapture: "one in the fires of the heart of the world, and one in the deep waters" ( _The Silmarillion_ , "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath). Maedhros is a mirror of Túrin and Niënor, perishing in the fire he is compared to throughout  _The Silmarillion_ , where Túrin and Niënor are swallowed up by the water that portended death for them since Morgoth first cursed their family. Fire and water are associated with death throughout the story, from Fëanor's own explosive demise to the drowning of a continent beneath the sea. It is water, also, that very nearly claims the victim of the one other notable attempt at suicide in  _The Silmarillion_. The half-elf Elwing, inheritor of the third and final Silmaril that Maedhros attempted to reclaim through force, "cast herself into the sea" ( _The Silmarillion_ , "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath") when no other option but surrender to the sons of Fëanor was available to her. She should have succeeded in ending her life had not the god of the sea taken pity on her and transformed her into a bird so she could reunite with her husband, Eärendil the Mariner. However, while Elwing retained her marriage and her Silmaril, she lost her sons Elrond and Elros whom she left behind in Middle-earth.

          But why is Elwing spared when Túrin, Niënor, and Maedhros are not? What makes her more deserving of a happy ending than others? Perhaps it is because her hands are free of guilt: where Túrin and Maedhros wreaked havoc across Middle-earth even when their intentions were good, and the Children of Húrin committed the appalling sin of incest (albeit unknowingly), Elwing's only crime was possession of the Silmaril stolen by her grandparents from its original thief, Morgoth. But even though Tolkien chooses to save Elwing, he is not without sympathy for his more doomed characters. Tolkien expresses a deep love for his most tragic heroes, spinning their stories with care and devoting huge amounts of time and text to detailing their fall from virtue. Maedhros is present throughout most of the main body of  _The Silmarillion_ , and Túrin's chapter was expanded into its own book, published as  _The Children of Húrin_. An author does not write so much about characters they hate, and while suicide is a terrible fate, it is a poetically and narratively satisfying one.

          Tolkien was a devout Catholic, and while he famously criticised his friend and contemporary C.S. Lewis's use of Christian allegory in  _The Chronicles of Narnia_ , he undoubtedly incorporated aspects of his religion into his works. Catholicism condemns suicide as a "mortal sin" against God, but notes exceptions where the spirits of the suicidal may be granted forgiveness if they are sufferers of great torture and/or mental illness. If Maedhros and Túrin do not fit that description, who does? Perhaps there is hope for them after all. Perhaps suicide is a punishment enough in and of itself, the final awful blow that ends a terrible life, rendering further tragedies unnecessar. Tolkien expresses a mixed view of suicide through a Catholic lens, at once condemning taking one's own life and offering uncharacteristic solace for victims and families affected by suicide.

          Túrin and Maedhros's suicides are not wholly their fault. They suffer from Curses and Dooms beyond their control and are embroiled in a conflict greater than any one person. But their individual actions also drive themselves to murder, betrayal, and more besides, compounding the horrors of their lives. Of all those who "cast" themselves into death, they best express the spiritual torment of the suicidal. Yet their lives are not devoid of joy, and the fate of their spirits is ambiguous in both the text and Tolkien's own beliefs. Túrin and Maedhros are great heroes who fall from glory with massive collateral damage, but they are never portrayed as evil. In the end, it is Morgoth who is the ultimate villain, and even misguided anti-heroes are ultimately engaged in a struggle against that great evil, lauded by Tolkien even in their darkest hours. In this way, Tolkien reaches beyond the text of  _The Silmarillion_  and into the wider world, offering hope for the damned and warning for those who stray toward paths of self-destruction.

* * *

Works Cited

Cline, Austin. "Why Lewis and Tolkien Argued Over Christian Theology."  _Learn Religions_ , Dotdash, 02 Jul. 2018. Accessed 11 Jun., 2019.

Tolkien, J.R.R..  _The Children of Húrin_. Edited by Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins, 2007.

———.  _The Silmarillion_. Edited by Christopher Tolkien, George & Allen Unwin, 1977.

———.  _The Two Towers._  George & Allen Unwin, 1952.

———.  _Unfinished Tales_. Edited by Christopher Tolkien, George & Allen Unwin, 1980.

Saunders, William P. "What is the Church's teaching regarding suicide?"  _Catholic Straight Answers_. Accessed 29 May, 2019.

Sophocles.  _Oedipus Rex._ Circa 429 B.C.E

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: This essay's working title was "silmacide," because puns are fun.
> 
> I realized after writing this that another parallel between Turin & Maedhros could be the incest angle, if we analyze Russingon, but I wasn't about to get into that, especially not at 4:00 in the morning, which is when I submitted this.
> 
> Thanks for reading and commenting!  
> You can find me on tumblr [@arofili](http://arofili.tumblr.com). (At time of posting my url is actually @aroziraphale but that's temporary, lol, and I've got a redirect page up.)


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